Digital Cameras are starting to appear in mainstream consumer households. Approximately five percent of US households are creating digital photos with digital cameras. In the year 2000 approximately 6.7 million digital cameras were projected to be sold in the United States, a growth of 103% over 1999, and this trend appears to be continuing. The installed base of digital cameras is estimated to grow from six million in 1999 to 81 million in 2005.
The digital cameras are usually equipped with memory for storing captured digital images. In high-end cameras the memory is removable.
The removable memory provided with high-end digital cameras has a relatively small storage capacity, typically storing only about 10+ high-resolution images. Therefore, extra memory is usually carried for extended photo-taking. However, carrying the extra memory can be is inconvenient. Moreover, the digital images can be lost if the memory removed from the camera is lost or damaged.
Identifying the stored images in memory removed from a digital camera can result in confusion and inconvenience. Unless the memory is labeled, the stored images are not readily identifiable. Usually, the memory is inserted back into the camera in order to identify the images that have been stored.
Memory having high storage capacity may be used in the digital cameras. However, such memory tends to be expensive, and its capacity is still inadequate for extended photo-taking.
After the memory has been filled, the digital images are transferred to a storage device such as a desktop computer. Once the images have been transferred, the memory is erased, thereby freeing up the memory for storing additional images.
Many of these images are taken at home, but a significant number of images are taken on family vacations, business trips, visits to theme parks, sightseeings, celebrations, weddings, etc. For many of these photo occasions, the user is away from home and does not have access to a desktop computer to save the images.
A user could take along a portable computer, as inconvenient as it might be. Still, many people would not consider taking a notebook computer to an amusement park. A user could purchase high-capacity memory, but that would be expensive. A user could carry extra memory, but at the risk of losing the images.
There is a need to increase the photo-taking capability of digital cameras without purchasing expensive high-capacity memory, carrying additional memory or lugging around a notebook computer. There is also a need to identify the stored images in memory removed from a digital camera, without having to insert the memory back in the digital camera.